1824 – Complied and written by Arthur Haygarth, but more commonly known as Lillywhite’s, after the man who commissioned the series. This is the first of fifteen volumes which are the major source books about the early history of the game. It is safe to say, all English cricket historians use these books.
The first 14 volumes were published between 1862 and 1895, they covered the game in unbelievable detail from its beginnings until 1878. After that, Wisden, which started in 1864, takes over.
Volume one covers the period 1746 – 1826, so that is the one of relevance to this site.
1907 – A anthology of the great writings from the nineteenth century, about the eighteenth. Can be read here.
1871 – An early book of cricket history
1923 – Detailed account of the Hambledon Club’s History
1920s. Six very long and influential pamphlets written by PF Thomas, they deal with particular issues concerning early in enormous details, while fail to cohere to provide a coherent view of the development of the game. If you want to spend a lot of time thinking about issues such as the origin of the word ‘cricket’, these writings are a good place to start. That is, if you can find them – they are very rare.
1925 – A classic general history with a decent section on early cricket. Available here.
1950 – Definitive book about the development of the laws
1970 – The book is one of the great books of cricket history. Bowen is incredibly well informed about world cricket and is on a mission to downplay the English involvement, hard though that may be. Strong on early cricket, this book should be reprinted. If you can get hold of a copy – do.
Rowland Bowen is an extraordinary figure, widely known for having chopped one of his own legs off – we now call this urge Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). More about his life can be gleaned here.
1979 – Great history of cricket equipment, good coverage of early cricket
1980. The great Encyclopedia of Cricket, a very wide coverage. The sections of early cricket history can be found here.
1983 – Fine book of cricket paintings, especially old cricket paintings.
1988 – A general history with a decent section on early cricket. Benny Green is a very witty author, not known as cricket historian per sé, but his love of the game shines through.
1997 – A general history with a good section on early cricket. Excellent maps and tables relating to early cricket. You will see a few on this site.
Peter Wynne-Thomas was one of the great cricket historians and was based at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. It is said that even when a great match was taking place he would rather be in the library that watching the cricket; make of that what you will.
1997 – Impressive history of cricket at Broadhalfpenny Down, even if it plays fast and loose with facts on occasions. For instance, the first cricket building, The Lodge, he says was located at Broadhalfpenny Down; it wasn’t, it was at Windmill Down. And that is hardly a secret.
Ashley Mote though is a discredited character. A far-right politician who has the distinction of being disowned by Nigel Farage, he was imprisoned for fraudulently claiming expenses from the European Parliament.
1999 – Birley is a brilliant writer, concentrating on social aspects of the game. Never less than skeptical of the cricketing establishment.
2000 – The one full length book to concentrate of the early game. A lot of time is spent contextualising the subject with in terms of broader English history. A very worthy aim, but sometimes reads like a PhD thesis. Sometimes it reads like it could be about any old game which happened to become popular in eighteenth century England.
2001 – This book serves as a reply to The Glory Days. Goulstome takes Mote and other cricket writers to task for several inaccuracies. For instance he devotes a chapter to explaining why the cricketer involved in the large bat incident is not Shock White by Thomas White of Reigate. He is also particularly keen on family trees, they crop up throughout the book, doing not much more than listing out names of people who we nothing about, a bit like a telephone directory.
It is both the best and the worst of cricket history. The research is meticulous, but there is no colour, no judgement, to make the text readable.
2007 – A very fine book, maybe winning best in show award, at least for a general history. John Major is of course, a former Prime Minister, one of a rare bred whose reputation grows with time. It must be said, he acknowledges considerable help in both researching and writing this book, but his tone of voice still shines through. Plenty of material about early cricket.
If, as they say, if you want just one book of cricket history, I think this is your best bet.
Internet resource – A wonderful source of information. If you want scorecards, averages, names – here they are. In a sense, this site is aimed at providing the view of early cricket that Cricket Archive misses out. On the other hand, Cricket Archive provides the information that this site does not.